The direction of technical change in AI and the trajectory effects of government funding

Government funding of innovation can have a significant impact not only on the rate of technical change, but also on its direction. In this paper, we examine the role that government grants and government departments played in the development of artificial intelligence (AI), an emergent general purpose technology with the potential to revolutionize many aspects of the economy and society. We analyze all AI patents filed at the US Patent and Trademark Office and develop network measures that capture each patent’s influence on all possible sequences of follow-on innovation. By identifying the effect of patents on technological trajectories, we are able to account for the long-term cumulative impact of new knowledge that is not captured by standard patent citation measures. We show that patents funded by government grants, but above all patents filed by federal agencies and state departments, profoundly influenced the development of AI. These long-term effects were especially significant in early phases, and weakened over time as private incentives took over. These results are robust to alternative specifications and controlling for endogeneity

Brief communication: X-ray breast imaging experience at Azienda USL-IRCCS Reggio Emilia

Abstract This note describes the experience of the Azienda USL-IRCCS di Reggio Emilia (AUSL-RE) in the field of X-ray breast imaging in the AUSL-RE catchment area of the Emilia Romagna Region (RER). It focuses on new applications for digital mammography

Tell Me What You Waste and I’ll Tell You Who You Are: An Eight-Country Comparison of Consumers’ Food Waste Habits

Using an original survey conducted in eight countries in 2021 (Canada, China, Germany, Italy, Russia, Spain, the UK, and the USA), this study explored the relationship between household food waste and dietary habits through a cross-country comparative perspective. In total, 8000 questionnaires were recorded from samples representative of the adult population of each country through an online survey conducted between the 13th and the 24th of August. The questionnaires were developed from the Waste Watcher International Observatory on Food and Sustainability, an international study of the social, behavioral, and lifestyle dynamics behind household food waste. The relationships between the per capita self-reported amount of food waste (expressed in kilocalories) and self-declared dietary habits (traditional, healthy and sustainable, vegetarian, smart, and confused) were estimated using multiple linear regression models. The results showed that smart diets are associated with higher values of food waste in Canada, Spain, the UK, and the USA. Vegetarian diets are associated with lower food waste values in China, Germany, the UK, and the USA, but not in Italy, Russia, and Spain. The share of the population adopting a smart diet was, on average, 2.7% of the sample; therefore, interventions for food waste reduction should focus on these specific types of consumers, who are often associated with larger amounts of food waste

Metformin Prevents Glucose-Induced Protein Kinase C-β2 Activation in Human Umbilical Vein Endothelial Cells Through an Antioxidant Mechanism

Hyperglycemia determines the vascular complications of diabetes through different mechanisms: one of these is excessive activation of the isoform β2 of protein kinase C (PKC-β2). Metformin, a widely used antidiabetic agent, is associated with decreased cardiovascular mortality in obese type 2 diabetic patients. Therefore, we assessed the role of metformin in glucose-induced activation of PKC-β2 and determined the mechanism of its effect in human umbilical venous endothelial cells grown to either normo- (5 mmol/l) or hyperglycemia (10 mmol/l) and moderately and acutely exposed to 25 mmol/l glucose. We studied PKC-β2 activation by developing adenovirally expressed chimeras encoding fusion protein between green fluorescent protein (GFP) and conventional β2 isoform (PKC-β2–GFP). Glucose (25 mmol/l) induced the translocation of PKC-β2–GFP from the cytosol to the membrane in cells grown to hyperglycemia but not in those grown in normal glucose medium. Metformin (20 μmol/l) prevented hyperglycemia-induced PKC-β2–GFP translocation. We also assessed oxidative stress under the same conditions with a 4-((9-acridine-carbonyl)amino)-2,2,6,6-tetramethylpiperidin-oxyl,free radical (TEMPO-9-AC) fluorescent probe. We observed significantly increased radical oxygen species production in cells grown in hyperglycemia medium, and this effect was abolished by metformin. We show that in endothelial cells, metformin inhibits hyperglycemia-induced PKC-β2 translocation because of a direct antioxidant effect. Our data substantiate the findings of previous large intervention studies on the beneficial effect of this drug in type 2 diabetic patients

A Soluble Phase Field Model

The kinetics of an initially undercooled solid-liquid melt is studied by means of a generalized Phase Field model, which describes the dynamics of an ordering non-conserved field phi (e.g. solid-liquid order parameter) coupled to a conserved field (e.g. thermal field). After obtaining the rules governing the evolution process, by means of analytical arguments, we present a discussion of the asymptotic time-dependent solutions. The full solutions of the exact self-consistent equations for the model are also obtained and compared with computer simulation results. In addition, in order to check the validity of the present model we confronted its predictions against those of the standard Phase field model and found reasonable agreement. Interestingly, we find that the system relaxes towards a mixed phase, depending on the average value of the conserved field, i.e. on the initial condition. Such a phase is characterized by large fluctuations of the phi field.Comment: 13 pages, 8 figures, RevTeX 3.1, submitted to Physical Review

Evaluating the quality of patient-specific deformable image registration in adaptive radiotherapy using a digitally enhanced head and neck phantom

This paper presents a deformable image registration-based method for the quality assurance of head and neck adaptive radiotherapy using digitally post-processed anthropomorphic phantom image datasets. One of the main findings of this work is that spatial and dose errors are a function of the magnitude of the deformation and of the gradient of the dose distribution. This emphasizes the importance of performing patient-specific deformable image registration verification and, consequently, the need to develop and make available tools that are for this purpose

Longevity of Replaced ICD/CRT-D

Longevity of Replaced ICD/CRT-D Introduction The longevity of defibrillators (ICD) is extremely important from both a clinical and economic perspective. We studied the reasons for device replacement, the longevity of removed ICD, and the existence of possible factors associated with shorter service life. Methods and Results Consecutive patients who underwent ICD replacement from March 2013 to May 2015 in 36 Italian centers were included in this analysis. Data on replaced devices were collected. A total of 953 patients were included in this analysis. In 813 (85%) patients the reason for replacement was battery depletion, while 88 (9%) devices were removed for clinical reasons and the remaining 52 because of system failure (i.e., lead or ICD generator failure or a safety advisory indication). The median service life was 5.9 years (25th–75th percentile, 4.9–6.9) for single- and dual-chamber ICD and 4.9 years (25th–75th percentile, 4.0–5.7) for CRT-D. On multivariate analysis, the factors CRT-D device, SC/DC ICD generator from Biotronik, percentage of ventricular pacing, and the occurrence of a system failure were positively associated with a replacement procedure. By contrast, the device from Boston Scientific was an independent protective factor against replacement. Considerable differences were seen in battery duration in both ICD and CRT-D. Specifically, Biotronik devices showed the shortest longevity among ICD and Boston Scientific showed the longest longevity among CRT-D (log-rank test, P < 0.001 for pairwise comparisons). Conclusion Several factors were associated with shorter service life of ICD devices: CRT-D, occurrence of system failure and percentage of ventricular pacing. Our results confirmed significant differences among manufacturers

Contaminants from dredged sediments alter the transcriptome of Manila clam and induce shifts in microbiota composition

Background The reuse of dredged sediments in ports and lagoons is a big issue as it should not affect the quality and the equilibrium of ecosystems. In the lagoon of Venice, sediment management is of crucial importance as sediments are often utilized to built-up structures necessary to limit erosion. However, the impact of sediment reuse on organisms inhabiting this delicate area is poorly known. The Manila clam is a filter-feeding species of high economic and ecological value for the Venice lagoon experiencing a drastic decline in the last decades. In order to define the molecular mechanisms behind sediment toxicity, we exposed clams to sediments sampled from different sites within one of the Venice lagoon navigable canals close to the industrial area. Moreover, we investigated the impacts of dredged sediments on clam’s microbial communities. Results Concentrations of the trace elements and organic chemicals showed increasing concentrations from the city of Venice to sites close to the industrial area of Porto Marghera, where PCDD/Fs and PCBs concentrations were up to 120 times higher than the southern lagoon. While bioaccumulation of organic contaminants of industrial origin reflected sediments’ chemical concentrations, metal bioaccumulation was not consistent with metal concentrations measured in sediments probably due to the activation of ABC transporters. At the transcriptional level, we found a persistent activation of the mTORC1 signalling pathway, which is central in the coordination of cellular responses to chemical stress. Microbiota characterization showed the over-representation of potential opportunistic pathogens following exposure to the most contaminated sediments, leading to host immune response activation. Despite the limited acquisition of new microbial species from sediments, the latter play an important role in shaping Manila clam microbial communities. Conclusions Sediment management in the Venice lagoon will increase in the next years to maintain and create new canals as well as to allow the operation of the new mobile gates at the three Venice lagoon inlets. Our data reveal important transcriptional and microbial changes of Manila clams after exposure to sediments, therefore reuse of dredged sediments represents a potential risk for the conservation of this species and possibly for other organisms inhabiting the Venice lagoon

Variations in head and neck treatment plan quality assessment among radiation oncologists and medical physicists in a single radiotherapy department

Background: Agreement between planners and treating radiation oncologists (ROs) on plan quality criteria is essential for consistent planning. Differences between ROs and planning medical physicists (MPs) in perceived quality of head and neck cancer plans were assessed. Materials and methods: Five ROs and 4 MPs scored 65 plans for in total 15 patients. For each patient, the clinical plan (CLIN) and 2 or 4 alternative plans, generated with automated multi-criterial optimization (MCO), were included. There was always one MCO plan aiming at maximally adhering to clinical plan requirements, while the other MCO plan(s) had a lower aimed quality. Scores were given from 1-7, 1-2: not acceptable, 3-5: acceptable if further planning would not resolve perceived weaknesses, 6-7: straightway acceptable. One MP and one RO repeated plan scoring for intra-observer variation assessment. Results: For the 36 unique observer pairs, the median percentage of plans for which the two observers agreed on plan score (100%=65 plans) was 27.7% [6.2,40.0]. In the repeat scoring, agreements between first and second scoring were 52.3% and 40.0%. With a binary division between unacceptable (scores 1,2) and acceptable (3-7) plans, the median inter-observer agreement percentage was 78.5% [63.1,86.2], while intra-observer agreements were 96.9% and 86.2%. There were no differences in observed agreements between RO-RO, MP-MP and RO-MP pairs. Agreements for the highest-quality, automatically generated MCO plans were higher than for the CLIN plans. Conclusions: Inter-observer differences in plan quality scores were substantial and could result in inconsistencies in generated treatment plans. Agreements among ROs were not better than between ROs and MPs, despite large differences in training and clinical role. High-quality automatically generated plans showed best score agreements